More Seat Capacity Between Australia and Bali

Commencing in April 2006, Garuda Indonesia will increase its passenger capacity from Australia to Bali by almost a third from most major Australian ports including Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

Suranto Yitnopawiro, Garuda Indonesia's Regional Manager, South West Pacific, announced last week that the Airline will introduce its latest aircraft to flights to and from Perth commencing March 26, operating its new Boeing 737 NG (New Generation) airliners on the Perth-Denpasar-Jakarta sector while expanding its Airbus A330 schedules from the other Australian centers.

"We are planning very positively for a resurgence of interest in Bali that is occurring worldwide and in Australia. We have no doubt whatsoever that Bali will ultimately resume its place as Australia's number one overseas holiday destination and, as this happens, we want to ensure that we have the capacity in place to meet the demand," Suranto told the press.

More Seats from All Australian Gateways

Garuda Indonesia's new schedules will see overall capacity rise by 28 per cent from the reduced levels introduced in October last year. A total of 22 flights a week will operate from Australia (including departures from Darwin and Auckland, which were not reduced).

Highlights include:

• Sydney: Expansion of capacity by 50 per cent, with two dedicated services Sydney-Denpasar-Sydney per week (Saturdays & Sundays), a flight shared with Brisbane on Mondays and a fourth flight shared with Melbourne on Thursdays.

• Melbourne: Resumption of Melbourne's dedicated, non-shared flight on a Sundays plus the introduction of a Thursday departure via Sydney to Bali. These two moves will provide an overall increase in capacity of 25 per cent, with four flights a week operating from Melbourne.

• Perth: More than 30 per cent additional capacity from the new Boeing 737-800 NGs, which will initially be configured with 180 all economy seats, an increase of 48 seats on the current Boeing 737-400s. In addition to the capacity increase, the addition of a Jakarta to Perth operations will open up new leisure and business markets.

• Adelaide: Reintroduction of a second service to Bali from Adelaide, via Melbourne on Fridays while the Tuesdays flight will become non-stop from Adelaide to Bali. The inbound Friday service from Bali is non-stop to Adelaide.

Suranto says Garuda Indonesia has been "greatly encouraged by the loyalty Australians have shown to destinations in Bali and Indonesia, and we are equipping ourselves to provide our customers with top levels of comfort, safety, and value."